Friday, July 18, 2008

Monday Afternoon

Right after Zane got up from his morning nap, Aunt Amy and cousin Gideon arrived. Zane was instantly intrigued by his cool older cousin. They are nine months apart, which seems a big difference now, but in a few years, won't matter as much. Zane loved crawling after him and trying to do whatever Gideon did. For some reason, both boys loved this vent. Gideon enjoyed putting his cars on it, while Zane enjoyed putting his mouth on it. Fabulous! Oh well, whatcha gonna do?

Note: Gideon is actually driving the cars while Zane chews on them!

Gideon was sweet and gave kisses to his cousin!


Fun times in the bath- I had a cute shot of their little buns, but didn't know if it would be appropriate for the internet, so I edited it!

Day 3

We had another relaxing morning Monday. We enjoyed sitting on the porch in the relatively cool breeze. Zane enjoyed being held by Papa, and kept leaning his head to the side so my dad could get him, over and over again.Papa introduced Zane to the windmill and the water from the fountain.
I loved this shot of Zane with my dad...
and this one with my mom.
Zoe and the kiddos were able to come over. William loves windmills and had so much fun playing in the fountain.
My parents swing set was a hit with Blythe and William. William's favorite part was the ladder and Blythe's I think was a toss up between the swing and the slide.
She loved going down the slide on her tummy.
Blythe, what a sweet girl...
and that William, what a charmer!
Thanks for coming out with the kids- it was so such fun, Zoe! We love you guys!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Trip to Texas- Days 1&2

On June 28th, Zane and I left Luke behind in MT and headed for the great state of Texas by way of airplane. It was right at the time of Zane's afternoon nap, so I had hoped that he would fall asleep. Alas, this was not so. I guess there was just too much to take in. Thankfully, it was not a full flight, so we had the entire row to ourselves. We endured the intermittent fussy times together as he fought off sleep, until the last 10 minutes or so of the flight, when he finally succumbed to slumber. This was short lived, however, as he woke up as soon as I got off the plane and put him in his stroller.

Our 2 hour layover was fairly uneventful, and then back on the plane. This time Zane did not fight off sleep, falling asleep almost instantly, and staying asleep for almost the entire flight, thankfully! We arrived in Austin after 11 pm and my parents greeted us at the airport. Zane took to my parents quickly, and once we got my luggage, we were on our way. We had a little drama trying to leave the airport. Apparently, the $20 bill that my dad gave the parking attendant did not pass the test of the highlighter, so her manager was called, as well as the police! Thankfully, the manager proved it to be real and not counterfeit, so we were able to leave, not before the police had arrived however.

After getting in so late Saturday night, we were all pretty tired. Sunday proved to be a nice and relaxing day. Zane got to try out the swing on my parents' new swing set for the first time and needless to say, it was a big hit. This became a part of our daily routine, right after breakfast each morning.

After we came in, I stripped Zane down to his onesie so he could cool off. He crawled over to the screen door and pulled himself up so he could keep an eye on Papa. I love this shot!
In the afternoon, after a trip to Target with my mom to pick up all the baby essentials: food, diapers,etc., and after his nap, Zane and I headed into Belton to visit Mark, Wendi and the kids. The kids were having a blast on the slip and slide, and Zane even got in on the action when Uncle Mark held him where he could stick his hand in the sprinkler.
Relaxing with Aunt Wendi
Bethany is so sweet and loves Zane. She always wants to hold him, even though she is not much bigger than he is. I love how Zane is studying her in this picture.
After some fun times with the cousins, we left in plenty of time to get Zane home for a much needed bath. He couldn't hold out and fell asleep in the car. He looked so cute in the seat, with his hand behind his head.
I didn't have the heart to wake him, managed to feed him while he was still asleep and put him to bed. I didn't even change his clothes- I just put him to bed in the outfit he had on. I, too was exhausted and headed to bed pretty early myself that night.

More later...

Monday, July 14, 2008

A little laughter goes a long way...

Here's just a little clip of Zane's sweet laughter. Luke was tickling him. Dad always knows how to get the laughs out of the lil' fellow.

I can't believe my little baby is 10 months old, as of last week. I cried last night as I held him before I put him to bed. I couldn't believe how big he looked in my arms, and just how fast this time has flown by. I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to experience the joy of motherhood (hey, don't get me wrong, there have been some rough spots along the way, of course, but so far, my experience has been pretty great!). Hopefully, I'm becoming a better person because of it.

Soon to follow, posts from my recent trip to Texas with Zane...



Saturday, July 12, 2008

Our Anniversary








On June 24th, Luke and I celebrated our 8th anniversary. Wow- eight years! That's hard to believe- where has the time gone? We have lived in 5 different cities, in seven different homes including 2 apartments, 1 cool place by the lake, and 4 houses (if you count the month that we lived with his mom and aunt when we first moved to Montana). We have shared many adventures together, as well as joys and sorrows along the way. Luke, I am truly blessed to have you by my side for this journey. Thank you for loving me always and being my best friend. You are one of God's greatest blessings in my life. I love you!

Luke's mom and aunt were kind enough to watch Zane at our house the night after our anniversary so we could go out. We couldn't remember the last time that we had been out on a date- we thought it might have been New Year's Eve. How sad is that? Anyway, we traveled down the road a few miles to the town of
Bigfork. It is a quaint town similar to Salado, for my Texas friends out there. We had a scrumptious dinner at the Bigfork Inn, followed by an enjoyable performance at the Bigfork Playhouse, where actors from across the nation come to perform during the summer. We saw Footloose- I've only seen parts of the movie, never in its entirety. I need to watch it now to compare.

Sidenote: For those fellow former Crusaders out there, what I mostly remember about Footloose, is from a Stunt Night when the Senior Class (Junior?) mistakenly won with their rendition, beating out our class (Freshman or Sophomore?), who should have won with Decent Dancing (at least I'm not bitter, right?!).

Here are some pictures from our wonderful evening. We've got to get out more! I'm sure most of you parents out there can totally relate. We had a great time. Thank you Mom and Noanie for staying with Zane so we could go out, even when you had to get up early for work the next morning.

Outside the Inn
The Inn after the musical